MILAN — The loss of a solid rocket booster nozzle on the second flight of the Vulcan Centaur had very little effect on the launch itself, but the impact of the incident on the vehicle’s certification by the Space Force remains uncertain.

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Jeff Foust writes about space policy, commercial space, and related topics for SpaceNews. He earned a Ph.D. in planetary sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree with honors in geophysics and planetary science...